He and a delegation of colleagues from the Thai Office for National Education Standards and Quality Assessment (ONESQA) met headteachers of Reading School, Queen Anne’s School in Caversham, The Piggott School in Wargrave and The Holt School in Wokingham.

They discussed how schools in this country might work in partnership with underperforming Thai schools in order to improve education for thousands of students.

Prof Chennarong said: “We are keen to explore partnerships with excellent schools in the UK.

“We already have a programme in Thailand that links good schools with other schools. Now I would like to explore a Thailand-UK connection.”

Representatives from other well-respected British educational organisations and institutions also took part in the meeting, including TeachFirst, the Institute of Education, University of Oxford, the British Council and ARK Schools.

The meeting was also a chance for a wider discussion about partnership between CfBT and the government of Thailand.

The trust works in collaboration with ONESQA assessing the quality of private schools across Thailand and awarding the best schools the International School Quality Mark, which is CfBT’s recognised school accreditation system for schools offering international curriculum worldwide.

It was also an opportunity for ONESQA to find out how CfBT can further support the development of school inspection and improvement both in Thailand and other parts of South East Asia.

Tony McAleavy, education director at CfBT, said: “CfBT works in close collaboration with ONESQA in Thailand and it was a pleasure to welcome Professor Chennarong and colleagues to Reading to learn from local school leaders about best practice in improving education and outcomes for children and young people.

“The UK is well known worldwide for having a high-performing education system and CfBT actively works with international clients to facilitate learning from the best of British to develop and build on their own first-class systems for the benefit of learners.”